Relief valve



July 26, 1949. F. c. HABl-:RLAND RELIEF VALVE Filed July 8, 1943 rnentea July ze, 194e Frederick C. Haberiand, Cleveland, Ohio, as-

signor, by mesne assignments, to Borg-Warner Corporation, Chicago, Ill., a corporation of Illi-l nois Application July 8, 1943, Serial No.l 493,878

` This invention relates to relief valves. and particularly to that type of relief valve having means for preventing chattering or vibration of the valve while it is operating to relieve pressure in a uid pressure system.

It has been proposed in prior devices of this character to utilize the pressure existing in the system to keep the valve closed, and to use an auxiliary relief valve to establish a reversal of pressure to open the valve when the unit pressure in the system exceeded a predetermined maximum. This resulted in some practical diniculties, one of which involved the rather high total pressure which -was exerted upon the valve to keep it closed under normal conditions and which required the expenditure of a relatively large amount of power to effect a release,thus rendering the valve less sensitive than was desired. The excessive pressure resulted from the construction of the piston which was used to move the valve, one side of the piston usually including the valve body vitself and the other being coextensive with the valve bore. The effective area of the side including the valve body was of course much smaller than the opposite side since the area represented by the valve body was totally ineffective.

The principal object of this invention is to pro- 1 Claim. (Cl. 137-53) being opened as a result Another object of this invention is to provide a main relief valve for a hydraulic system and an auxiliary relief valve, said auxiliary relief valve of the opening of the main relief valve.

Another object of this invention is to provide a relief valve having a secondary or auxiliary releasing means, said auxiliary releasing means employing a reducing valve for controlling the operation of the main relief valve.

These and other objects of the invention'will become clear from the following detailed description and from the accompanying drawings which form a part of the description and in which:

Fig. 1 is a section through a valve embodying this invention, this section showing the threaded videa relief valve which utilizes fluid pressure to retain the valve closed under normal operating unit pressures, but which requires less power to open the same than relief valves heretofore available and hence is more eiicient and sensitive. Y

A more specic object of this invention is to provide a relief valve for a hydraulic system wherein fluid pressure is utilized to keep the valve closed with an auxiliary relief valve for limiting the closing pressure, the opening of the auxiliary relief valve being initiated by the opening of the main relief valve.

Another specific object of this invention is to provide a relief valve for a hydraulic system which is hydraulically unbalanced in favor of its closed position for a predetermined range of pressures in the system and then -gradually approaches a balanced state during a further' range of pressures, a perfectly balanced state being reached at -a predetermined maximum unit pressure in the System.

openings for connection to the pressure and return lines;

Fig. 2 is a. section through the Valve shown in Fig. 1, the section being taken along lines 2-2 of Fig. 1 and showing the main valve in its closed position;

. Fig. 3 is a section similar to that of Fig. 2 showing the auxiliary relief valve in its closed position; and

Fig. 4 is a section similar to that of Fig. 2 showing both the main valve and the auxiliary relief valve open.

Referring now to Fig. 1 for a detailed description of the invention, the valve is comprised of a housing I0 having a valve bore II which is dened` in part byv a valve seat I2 at one end and by an end closure plate I3 at the other end, said plate I3 being retained in housing I0 by means of a snap ring I4 acting against a, ange I5 in the plate. Valve bore II is in direct communication with an opening I6 which is threaded for connection with a pipe forming part of the hydraulic system (not shown) which is to be controlled by the valve. If the valve is to be inserted in series in the system a second opening Il is n provided, the opening being threadedfor connection to a pipe forming a continuation of the one to be threaded into opening I6.

Within valve bore II is a spill or relief Valve assembly having a body I8 of greater diameter than that of valve seat I2, engaged by a spill or relief valve face. A short reduced stem I9 extends through seat I2 and into low pressure exhaust opening 20 which in turn opens into a return outlet 23a. The end of valve stem I3 is enoi valve assembly. Said body I3 has a central bore 23 passing through the greater portion thereof and serving to retain a spring 23 which is compressed between the inner terminal of bore 23 and end closure plate i3. A recess 23 is provided in end plate I3 opposite bore 23 to receive the upper end of spring 23. It may be stated here that spring 23 is not sufficiently strong to keep spill or relief valve I3 closed under ordinary worklng pressures. It will be observed that the pressure in the system will be transmitted to the underside (Fig. l) of motive piston 23, and hence will oppose the action of spring 23. It will also be observed that motive piston 23 divides valve bore II into two chambers; including spill valve.

chamber 21 always in direct communication with the pressures existing in the system and upper chamber 23 comprising that portion included between motive piston 23 and plate I3. It is contemplated that spill or relief valve I3 will be moved or controlled by the diierence in pressure existing between the upper surface of piston 23 and that on the lower surface adjacent valve I3. The manner in which these controlling difierences in pressure are obtained will now be described. j

Referring to Fig. 2, housing I has another bore 23 of small cross-sectionl disposed substantially parallel to bore II, with a conduit 33 connecting portion 21 with bore 23 and a conduit 3I connecting said bore 23 with portion 23. A third conduit 32 connects a reduced section 33 of bore 23 with exhaust opening 23. Said bore 23 is closed at its upper end by an` end closure plate 33, the opposite end being closed by housing I0 except for the portion closed by an adjusting screw 33.

Within bore 23 are two control valves including a iirst, upper control valve designated generally at 33 and a second lower control valve designated generally at 33. Valve 35 seats on a. liner t1 at 33 guided in its movement by a head 33 which lits with a relatively loose guiding llt into a corresponding recess 33 in plate 33; It is contemplated that the reciprocating movement of head 33 in recess 33 will provide a dash pot action for valve 33. the fluid in valve bore 23 flowing into and out of recess 30 around head 33. When a state of equilibrium exists, or when movement of valve 33 is slow, the fluid in recess 33 will be at the same unit pressure as the iluid in section 23. The central portion of valve 33 is of reduced diametcr so asto form a passageway 3l, said passageway communicating with the upper portion (Fig. 2) of bore 23 when valve 33 is open and thence to conduit 3i leading to chamber 23. A series of apertures 32 in liner 31 connect passageway 3| with a groove 33 which is aligned with conduit 33 leading to chamber 21.

The second lower control valve 33 operates in the reduced section 33 of bore 23, the shoulder formed by the juncture of the two sections being moving downward from the position shown. Said '4 valve 33 is provided with a seat 33 against which the lower end (Fig. 2) of the ilrst controLvalve 33 seats. Valve seat 33 has a slightly smaller eifective area than valve seat 33.

lower control valve 33 so as to urge control valve 33 toward control valve 33. The movement of both control valves in an` upward direction is limited by the action 'of plate 33 against the shoulder formed in the upper portion of valve 3I- byhead 33. Near the upper limit of its movement valve 33 is spaced from liner 31 and this space is connected-by means of axial slots 31 in valve 33 to a section of reduced diameter 33 in communication with `conduit 32. A drilled passageway 33 connects the top of valve 33 'with the upper portion of bore 23 and conduit 3l leading to upper chamber 23. Thus the upper portion of valve 33 is always subject to the pressure in chamber 23. This pressure will of course tend to balance some of the downward pressure exerted by. control valve 33 but since all parts of head 33 are balanced, and since valve seat 33 is slightly smaller than valve seat 33, there will be a net total pressure in a direction to keep v'alve 33 closed.

The operation of the relief valve is as follows:

The fluid in the system normally flows into spill or relief valve chamber 21 and around spill or relief valve body I3. Said valve body I3 is initially held down by the relatively weak spring 23,' and the .valve face remains closed under ordinary working pressures. The uid in spill valve chamber 21 also flows through conduit 33, groove 33 and openings 32 into passageway 3l and thence past valve seat 33 into conduit 3i and upper; chamber 23. First control valve 33 is normallyheld open by spring 33 which constantly applies pressure to second control valve 3 3 and through valve seat 33 to the lower portion of rst control valve 33. As pres/sure is built up in chambers 21 and 23, opposing forces are exerted upon motive piston 23. It will be noted that the effective piston area in upper chamber 23 is substantially the same as the area of the bore II whereas the eiective piston area in spill valve chamber 21 is the area of motive piston 23 minus the area of valve seat I2 where it contacts the valve face. Due tothe greater enective area of motive piston 23 in upper chamber 23 a greater total pressure is exerted toward seating or closing valve proper I3. Valve I3 thus will be closed under all normal operating conditions,4 and will be maintained in a closed position by the pressure developed in the iiuid itself. The unit pressure in upper chamber 23, however, is not always the same as the unit pressure in spill valve chamber 21 since the pressure in chamber 23 is controlled by first control valve 33 and this valve is a pressure reducing valve, the reduced pressure being controlled by spring 33. Y

Let it be assumed for purposes of illustration that the valve I3 is set to relieve or spill at 1000 pounds per square inch and that pressure reducing, control valve 35 is adapted through spring 33 to reduce this pressure to approximately 700 pounds per square inch delivered to upper chamber 23. As long as the pressure in spill or relief valve chamber 21 is less than 700 pounds per square inch direct communication will be had between chambers 21 and 23 through first control valve 33 so that the unit pressure in each chamber will be the same. However, shouldv pressure in chamber 21 exceed 700 pounds per square inch, pressure reducing control valve 33 .A spring 33 is compressed between adjustingscrew 33 and emmer will close as shown in Fig. 3 due to the excess pressure in contact with the upper surface of piston 39 of valve 35 acting against valve 36 and its supporting spring 46, the fluid still being in communication with the upper end of valve Il through passageway 49 from valve seat 38. With valve 35 closed, the pressure in chamber 28 cannot increase and hence any increase in pressure in chamber 2I ltends to strike a balance between the force developed in chamber 28 to keep the valve closed and the force tending to lift the valve I8 off its seat to relieve the pressure in the system. It is contemplated that balance will be struck when the maximum permissible pressure of 1000 pounds per square inch is reached. Any pressure exceeding 1000 pounds per square inch ywill overbalance the forces and move motive piston 23 and its associated valve I8 upward, thereby relieving pressure in the system. In moving upward, however, piston 23 will temporarily increase the pressure in chamber 28 and all passages communicating therewith and this increased pressure will be transmitted through passageway 49 in valve 35 to the top of valve 36. Valve 35 is already seated on seat 38 in liner 31 and the liner cannot move downward because of the shoulder formed by the juncture of the two sections of valve bore 29. The excessive pressure, therefore, will separate valve 38 from the lower portion of valve 35 and permit the fluid to escape through axial slot 41, around the reduced portion 48 of valve 36 into conduit 32 and then into the low pressure exhaust or return line 20. The comi-v pressed spring 46 is constantly effective against valves 35 and 38 and hence the pressure in chamber 28 will always remain at '700 pounds per square inch. Should the upward movement of motive piston 23 and its associated valve cease, valve 36 will close. After the main spill or relief valve I8 has opened in response to excessive pressure and the pressure in the, system drops below 1000 pounds per square inch there is available a pressure of 700 pounds per square inch in section 28 to close the valve, it being remembered that a pressure greater than 1000 pounds per square inch is required to overbalance the pressure of '100 pounds per square inch in chamber 28 and that pressure reducing control valve 35 functions to maintain at least a 700 pounds per square inch pressure in that section.

As valve I8 moves downward to its closed position, however, pressure in chamber 28 drops below 700 pounds per square inch and control valve 35 is then opened by spring 48 which rst closes valve 38 and then opens valve 35 to permit fluid to pass into section 28 until the requisite pressure of 700 pounds per square inch is again reached in that section.

vibration or flutter of the valve 35 is prevented by the dash-pot action previously mentioned in connection with the description of head 38 and recess 40.

It will be apparent that the relief valve construction just described will provide a very positive action for valve I8 and that due to the fact that the valve itself operates the piston 28 against s hydraulic head, which in turn is cor;hr trolled by valve having a dash-pot connectez therewith, Jfine main valve I8 will time be free ci chatter or vibration. It will also be aimaient that at the critical unit pressure, valve bly Il is balanced and that a very smallincrease pressure will force the valve open, thus rendering the valve more sensitive and accurate.

The foregoing description is illustrative of a preferred embodiment of this invention and it is understood that the scope of this invention is not limited to the particular sizes, shapes and locations of valves, conduits, springs, etc., but is to be determined by the appended claim.

I claim:

A relief valve assembly comprising a housing; a main valve bore in said housing; a valve seat in said bore; an outlet opening communieating with said valve seat; a valve body in said bore cooperating with said seat; a piston integral with the valve bodyand dividing the bore into a first chamber and a second chamber; an inlet opening communicating with said first chamber; an auxiliary valve bore adjacent said main valve bore; conduits from the outlet opening and from 20 the two chambers of the main valve bore leading into the auxiliary valve bore; and valve means in said auxiliary bore responsive to the pressure in said first chamber and provided with means ,for connecting the second chamber with the first chamber conduit to increase the unit pressure ln the second chamber to that of the first chamber, and then cut the second chamber on from the first chamber to maintain said unit pressure in said second chamber, said valve means being responsive to an increase in the pressure in said second chamber resulting upon opening of said main valve body to connect said second chamber to the outlet opening to exhaust the unit pressure in said second chamber, said last mentioned valve means comprising a liner the inside of which is in constant communication with the ilrst chamber conduit; a spool valve passing through said liner; one end of the spool having a fluid tight seal with the interior of the liner and the other end having a shoulder thereon adapted to rest on said liner and cut off the second chamber from the nrst chamber; a recess in the housing adapted to receive the said other end of the spool to form a dash-pot; an abutment on the said other end of the spool for limiting movement thereof into said dash-pot; a movable valve seat cooperating with said one end of the spool; a passageway through said spool and connecting at all times the last mentioned valve seat with the second chamber; and spring means for urging the last mentioned valve seat against said spool and the shoulder of said spool oif said liner.

FREDERICK c.

REFERENCES CITED The followim references are of record in the nie of this patent:

o Um'rnn s'rlrrnsv PATaNTs 

